Kakyoku Kawakaze
Kakyoku Kawakaze (歌曲 川風, Melodic Breeze) is the current Captain of the 4th Division of the Gotei 13. She specializes in healing as she was tutored by none other than Retsu Unohana herself. Kakyoku is one of the youngest Shinigami to ever obtain the rank of Captain due to her innate capacity for learning and caring for others. Despite her personality, she has become close friends with both Tadashi Kori and Kasuga Yuki. Appearance Kakyoku takes the appearance of a young and cute girl. She has long silvery-white hair that sometimes takes on a blonde appearance and gold-yellow eyes. She is of average height and weight for her apparant age as she possesses features of a young middle school student. Unlike most captains that enjoy wearing their haori's, she only wears her haori when she knows that she is going into battle and instead wears a uniform which is beige in color along with white knee-high socks, brown loafers and a pale blue barrette on the back of her hair. Her skirt is shorter than the others. She looks like an innocent girl, which in fact, she is. Personality Captain Kawakaze normally has a look of neutrality on her face at all times but, someone can tell how she feels at the moment by listening to the tone of her voice. Kakyoku has a voice that is equally beautiful to her looks and tone shifts in her voice can definitely tell her mood. To put it simply, Kakyoku is a dice with many faces so to speak; most of the time she is a very stern but well-mannered woman that is normally concerned with her own work than most others. Kakyoku also has a rather sensual side to her that she uses in rather unemotional words rather than telltale body movements. When she's not in that sensual mood and men seem to stare at her as though she is some doll for them to play with, she can get easily annoyed. This usually results with a powerful Axe-Kick to the head. But her mood can completely change if you give her a little Sake alcohol. Kakyoku has been known to avoid alcohol for the most part but, the fact she has many hard-drinking shinigami in her division does not help. Just the smallest swig of alcohol for her can result in her turning into a one person party involved with jokes, laughter, sexuality and even signs of emotion on her face. Although, that is all followed by a nasty hangover the next morning. History Synopsis Soul Society arc *To The 4th Division *A Fearful Hunt Powers & Abilities Immense Spiritual Energy: Kakyoku is capable of releasing an immense spiritual power. Despite her not being good in offense, she is able to use her spiritual power for other purposes, such as inserting her own spiritual power into another person in order to heal them. :Distortion: Using her spiritual energy, this technique allows her to deflects projectiles away using an invisible shield in front of her. The drawback of this technique is that she has to take it down should she wants to switch from defense to offense. Hidden Blade Expert: Since she is the Captain of the Fourth Division, Kakyoku is often put into the field of combat if needed. To fight off potential attackers, Kakyoku wields two hidden swords in her sleeves that extend from metal bracers attached to her wrists. She wields these with great skill as she uses them more than she does her actual Zanpakuto in combat. Master Healer: Being the captain of the 4th division, Kakyoku is highly proficient in healing. She is by far the most knowledgeable in the art of healing out of the whole Soul Society, surpassing even her master and the previous captain, Unohana. She is able to heal races other then Shinigami, as shown when she healed Riiko, a Reikon Kyuuban and Shirokyu, a half demon. Expert Flash Step User: With her skill in flash steps she is able to create an after-image for close range. It is effective in dodging melee attacks by confusing the enemy into attacking elsewhere. However, when struck the clone disperses into a cloud of data like objects. When these objects come into contact with an opponent, they analyze both the physical and spiritual composition of the individual and then flood back into Kakyoku, granting her intimate knowledge of her opponent. Her speed may not be her bes quality, but it certainly is capable of getting the job done. : Doppleganger: Kakyoku is even capble of making clones of herself except the clones all have blood-red eyes. Clones created through this ability have their own consciousness and have all the abilities of the original Kakyoku - including the creation of more clones. The drawback to this ability is that if she loses focus, these clones can turn on and potentially kill her. Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Kakyoku has shown herself to be incredibly skilled with the sword, unlike former captains of the fourth Division. As shown when she was seen cutting down several Menos using her sword, she has proven herself to be a competent warriror. Even using the hidden blades that she wears on her person, Kakyoku has displayed the skill to be cable of knocking away several arrows launched at her by invading members of the Engelhaft Gewitter, amazing many of the Shinigami that were nearby with her display. 'Zanpakuto' Jiyū Ren'ai (自由恋愛, Free Love) is the name of Kakyoku's Zanpakuto. When sealed, it takes the form of a tamahagane tantō in which the handle is wrapped with bandages. Shikai: Jiyū Ren'ai is released by the command, "My Love Is Like The Ocean" (私の愛は海のようです, Watashi no ai wa umi no yōdesu); when released, it retains its appearance as a tamahagane tantō except that the bandaged part has turned to a loose cloth with the word, love, on it. When releasing her Zanpakuto, she holds her tantō in both her hands, the edge pointing up to the sky before declaring the release command. Shikai Special Ability: Jiyū Ren'ai is capable of defending as well as healing. When Kakyoku wants her Zanpakuto to defend her, it will by using cloth that wraps her blade. This cloth can grow up to great lengths and is highly durable as it wraps itself around whatever or whomever Kakyoku wishes. Jiyū Ren'ai can then restore a subject covered by the cloth to the state that they were before taking damage. If need be Kakyoku is capable of fully restoring a person's destroyed body parts from nothing. While Kakyoku can heal wounds quickly, it takes her longer to replenish the patient's Reiatsu. Large amounts of foreign spiritual pressure also make healing more difficult. *'Hikō no Juutan '(飛行の絨緞, Flying Carpet): Kakyoku makes her cloth able to take human weight by charging it with reiatsu depending on how many people would sit on it. She would then make it fly by using her reiatsu to pull it up . She can control the direction where it's going. The speed is rivaled to a sports car. *'Chiyu no Mira' (治癒の木乃伊, Healing Mummy): Kakyoku wraps the cloth around her target healing them of most wounds even removing poisons. This can also be applied to vizards by using it to render them unconscious when their inner hollow begins taking control. The name refers to how the person she is healing looks like when covered by cloth all around. With this technique, Kakyoku is also able to create a wall of bandages reinforced with healing energy in order to defend from attacks. This wall is capable of reflecting all damage due to the enhanced healing factor acting as a sort of mirror for anything with destructive purposes. * Gomata Shinzō (叉心臓, Four-Pronged Heart): Kakyoku channels her spiritual energy around her body creating a dense sphere to protect herself from harm. This sphere then begins to use Kakyoku's spiritual energy in order to create a pair of angelic wings and four massive spade-tipped swords with heart-shaped guards that cover a large portion of the area. Once this technique is fully formed, Kakyoku is then able to proceed to heal anyone that she considers a friend or an ally back to perfect condition and is even able to restore spiritual energy back to those affect as well. The 4th Division Captain has said that this is her ultimate technique while in shikai. Bankai: Fuhen Jiyū Ren'ai '(不変自由恋愛, ''Everlasting Free Love): Is the name of Kakyoku's bankai. She dislikes using this due to it having an offensive ability. An enormous burst of Reiatsu spills out from the 4th Division Captain as she lets go of the blade, sending it spiraling towards the ground in front of her, where it digs into the soil. For a moment, everything seems silent. Then, as if to break the silence, a giant ornate gold and white pillar appears from the ground and grows until it reaches into the sky. On the top of the pillar is a golden ring roughly ten feet in diameter. Once the pillar is erected, Kakyoku slides her hand into the side of the column as if it were made of liquid pulling out a long, double-edged blade with an English-style grip and cross-guard on both ends. One of the two grips is white while the other is a deep red. The blade itself is a gleaming silver. As soon as her blade is firmly in hand, Kakyoku's back seems to ripple for a moment as a red ribbon pokes out. With a quick wince it quickly vanishes back into her form as her Reiatsu makes a final spike. : ''Bankai Special Ability''': ''In her bankai her healing and defensive abilities are greatly enhanced. Upon release, as soon as the tower is erected, every individual within a few thousand feet suddenly notices spiritual rippling across their forms. Their Spirit Ribbons are forcibly yanked from their body unless they can use pure force of will to keep it from happening, which isn't possible if their will is weaker than Kakyoku's. Strong Lieutenant-class and Captain-class enemies can keep their ribbons from escaping their bodies, but they must continually concentrate on it to keep it from happening. Those who cannot produce such willpower find their ribbons, red for Shinigami and white for everything else, traveling towards the golden ring of the pillar. Once there, the ribbons fasten tight to the structure. These ribbons embody the life-force of the individual they stem from. If the individual is wounded, the ribbon is equally degraded. By healing these ribbons with her blade, Kakyoku can bring even the most terminal patient back to pristine health - the complications of surgery and fine medicinal work are completely bypassed. On the other end of the spectrum is the main reason why she often elects to not use her Bankai as it takes life although Kakyoku is devoted to saving lives. Should she use her blade to cut a ribbon, its owner simply dies. Only Kakyoku can directly interact with the ribbons, although anyone can see them. :* The blade that Kakyoku pulls from the tower has two abilities. Each of these abilities corresponds to which handle she holds while wielding the weapon. The red handle corresponds to the healing aspect of her Zanpakuto. While wielding the blade by this grip, Kakyoku can swipe degradation off of the spirit ribbons that attach to the ring of her pillar. This, in turn, heals even the most grievous of wounds on the corresponding individual. The white handle of the blade allows the Zanpakuto to harm. While either side can block strikes, only this side is capable of dealing damage when attacking back. It's also this side that Kakyoku uses to cut the ribbons of enemies who couldn't contain them. Through the utter mastery of her Bankai, which Kakyoku has long since attained, she can quickly switch sides in the blink of an eye :* The only way that Kakyoku can interact with the Spirit Ribbons is through her sword. Nothing else but Fuhen Jiyū Ren'ai is capable of directly interacting with the ribbons - all Kido and spiritual attacks phase right through them as if they weren't there. However, by using the pillar itself as a catalyst, Kakyoku can affect all of the ribbons attached to the tower at once. By using any sort of Kido on the tower, the spiritual "heartbeat" of the column can move the spell up and across all of the ribbons at once. This can allow Kakyoku to heal, damage, or manipulate any amount of enemies; it's only dependant on the number of ribbons attached. This technique is used primarily to eliminate many weak enemies or heal a field of wounded Shinigami all in one swoop. Unfortunately, the technique is not at all selective. If the heartbeat transports poison, anyone attached by a ribbon is subject to it. There is no way for Fuhen Jiyū Ren'ai to distinguish friend from foe. ::